Henry Lee et al. 2006 ApJ 647 970 doi:10.1086/505573
Henry Lee1, Evan D. Skillman1, John M. Cannon2, Dale C. Jackson1, Robert D. Gehrz1, Elisha F. Polomski1 and Charles E. Woodward1
Show affiliationsWe report 4.5 μm luminosities for 27 nearby (D
5 Mpc) dwarf irregular galaxies measured with the Spitzer Infrared Array Camera. We have constructed the 4.5 μm luminosity-metallicity (L-Z) relation for 25 dwarf galaxies with secure distance and interstellar medium oxygen abundance measurements. The 4.5 μm L-Z relation is 12 + log(O/H) = (5.78 ± 0.21) + (-0.122 ± 0.012)M[4.5], where M[4.5] is the absolute magnitude at 4.5 μm. The dispersion in the near-infrared L-Z relation is smaller than the corresponding dispersion in the optical L-Z relation. The subsequently derived stellar mass-metallicity (M*-Z) relation is 12 + log(O/H) = (5.65 ± 0.23) + (0.298 ± 0.030) log M*, and extends the SDSS M*- Z relation to lower mass by about 2.5 dex. We find that the dispersion in the M*-Z relation is similar over 5 orders of magnitude in stellar mass, and that the relationship between stellar mass and interstellar medium metallicity is similarly tight from high-mass to low-mass systems. We find a larger scatter at low mass in the relation between effective yield and total baryonic mass. In fact, there are a few dwarf galaxies with large yields, which is difficult to explain if galactic winds are ubiquitous in dwarf galaxies. The low scatter in the L-Z and M*-Z relationships are difficult to understand if galactic superwinds or blowout are responsible for the low metallicities at low mass or luminosity. Naively, one would expect an ever increasing scatter at lower masses, which is not observed.
galaxies: dwarf; galaxies: evolution; galaxies: irregular; infrared: galaxies
Issue 2 (2006 August 20)
Received 2006 March 9, accepted for publication 2006 May 1
Henry Lee et al. 2006 ApJ 647 970
John M. Cannon et al. 2002 ApJ 565 931
Daniel R. Weisz et al 2009 ApJ 691 L59
John M. Cannon et al. 2004 ApJ 607 274
John M. Cannon et al 2005 ApJ 630 L37
Fabian Walter et al. 2007 ApJ 661 102
Dale C. Jackson et al. 2006 ApJ 646 192
John M. Cannon et al. 2006 ApJ 647 293
John M. Cannon et al 2005 ApJ 621 L21
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